4 Hours in Hong Kong
04-Jan-07
On a recent trip from San Francisco to Bangalore, I had the good fortune of having a several hour layover in Hong Kong. Due to efficiency of Hong Kong’s immigration authorities, combined with the streamlined treatment that usually accompanies a US passport, and the general excellence of Hong Kong’s mass transit system, it was quite easy for me to leave the airport and see some of the sights in Hong Kong.
My flight into Hong Kong arrived at about 6:45 AM local time. I passed through immigration, stopped at the ATM to pick up some local cash, dropped everything but my camera bag at the left luggage counter, and hopped onto the downtown-bound Airport Express train around 7:30.
A quick aside: thank goodness for the computerized and interconnected global financial system. Within less than a minute, I was able to withdraw local currency at a competitive inter-bank conversion rate (way better than what the airport exchange counters offer). And the only fee was a transaction surcharge that—at $0.50—was less than if I had withdrawn money from a non-affiliated bank in the US. And it’s not like I’m a customer at a large multinational bank: I keep my money with a Podunk credit union that barely has a California presence, let alone an overseas one.
After a twenty-odd minute ride on the Airport Express train, I arrived in Central Hong Kong. I spent some time ooh’ing-and-aah’ing at the big buildings and taking lots of pictures.
The main buildings above are, from left to right, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Building (the tan squat one), the Bank of America building (the boring white one), the Bank of China Tower (the tall praying mantis one), and the Hutchison Whampoa building (the short one with the “HWL” logo).
After walking around in Central, I took the MTR [subway] under the harbor into Mong Kok, the city’s main shopping area. Of course, I didn’t have time for shopping, but I did pick up a few bao [sweet buns available with a variety of fillings] from street vendors to snack on, and managed to capture the area while relatively empty (no small feat, although I imagine early morning on a weekday is not their busiest time).
Then, I got back on the MTR and went down to Tsim Sha Tsui, which is the peninsula-side waterfront. I stopped to get a couple bottles of water (a couple to keep me hydrated, and a few as souvenirs: it’s a long story…) and then went to admire the famous Hong Kong Island skyline. Unfortunately, it was a foggy morning, which made it difficult to pick out a lot of detail.
It’s hard to single out individual buildings in this picture except the gigantic International Finance Centre (building Two) on the right-hand side. While “Two ifc” (as it’s stylishly known) is currently the tallest building in Hong Kong, I understand they’re already building a taller one across the Harbor in Kowloon.
I then took the Star Ferry back to Central, got on the Airport Express, and headed back to the airport. On the way, I passed by a number of Hong Kong’s omnipresent residential towers. If these buildings weren’t so darned tall, I’d be tempted to call this area a suburb.
I arrived back at the airport at around 11:30 AM, after around four hours of sightseeing. In that time, I managed to take 188 pictures, which is an average of 1 picture every 75 seconds.
Once at the airport, I retrieved my carry-on bag from the left luggage counter, made my way through security, and headed off to the gate for my 1:30 PM departure to Singapore, the next stop on my journey.